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Dragging and dropping apps with iOS 12.1.1 and VoiceOver

Submitted by Scott Davert on 17 April, 2017

Starting in iOS 10, a new way exists through the actions rotor to move apps around your various home screens. While the old method is still available, the new way of accomplishing this task seems to be preferred by many. In iOS 11, it then became possible to drag multiple apps at the same time. The below process was written for iOS version 12.1, and if the instructions do not work as outlined below, chances are good you are not running that version of iOS.

Moving Apps Around Screens

Note, if you wish to achieve the below with the use of a braille display, space with Dot 6 is the equivalent to flicking down, Space with Dot 3 is the equivalent to flicking up, and pressing a Cursor Routing Button will perform the double tap gesture. If your display doesn’t have Cursor Routing Buttons, you can also double tap by pressing Space with Dots 3 and 6. With a Bluetooth keyboard, pressing the down arrow is equivalent to flicking down, the Up Arrow to flicking up, and the VoiceOver Modifier key you have set plus space will perform a double tap gesture. If QuickNav is enabled, you can also perform this gesture by pressing the Up and Down Arrow keys together.

To move an app to a different location of your home screen, do the following:

Locate the app you wish to move.

Flick up or down to the "Edit Mode" option and double tap.

Flick down twice to get to the option called “Drag”, followed by the name of the app VoiceOver has focus on.

Double tap again and you will be placed in your Dock, with no VoiceOver verification that the app has been added to a “drag session”. However, you will know that it has been added, since “is editing” will be spoken or shown in braille after each app.

Move to where you wish the app to be located. You can change pages if you like and this will not change the below instructions.

Once you have arrived at where you would like to place the app, flick down with one finger. You can:

Stop editing apps

Add the app currently in focus to the drag session

drop the app you selected before the current item

Drop the app you selected after the current item

add the chosen app to a folder with the app currently in focus

cancel drag

or activate. This will add the app currently in focus to your drag session.

Note that if VoiceOver is focused on a folder, an action rotor item for adding the app you are moving will appear. Accomplishing this task is detailed two sections below this one. Double tap the option you wish to use, and the app will be placed accordingly.
7. After placing the app you just moved, it will be located as expected with all other apps adjusting to accommodate this change. If you wish to move another app, locate it, and flick up once to the “add to drag session” option and proceed as indicated above.
8. When you have finished moving things around, press the home button.

Dragging Multiple Apps

If you have several apps you would like to, for example, drag into a folder, you can add multiple apps to your “drag session”. Simply repeat steps 1 through 6 and then navigate to the folder you wish to drop the apps into.

Folders

If you wish to place an app, or several apps, into a folder:

Locate the app you wish to move.

Flick up or down to the "Edit Mode" option and double tap.

Flick down twice to the option called “Drag”, followed by the name of the app VoiceOver has focus on.

Double tap again and you will be placed in your Dock, with no VoiceOver verification that the app has been added to a “drop session”. However, you will know that it has been added, since “is editing” will be spoken or shown in braille after each app.

Repeat the above steps until all of the apps you wish to move to that folder have been added.

Move to the folder where you wish the app to be located and double tap to open it. You can move to different pages within the folder if you like and this will not change the below instructions.

Move to where you would like the app or apps to go in the folder. Note that you can only drop all of the apps at once, there is no way to organize them when adding them to the folder.

Flick down until you find the option that describes what you would like to do. You can:

stop editing apps

close folder

add to drag session

drop the chosen apps before the one currently in focus

Drop the app or apps after the app in focus

cancel drag

Press the home button when you are done moving apps to complete the process.

If you wish to re-arrange the apps in a folder, follow the instructions provided in the first section of this guide. It applies to folders as well as simply moving apps around on the screen.

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Disclaimer

The guide on this page has generously been submitted by a member of the AppleVis community. As AppleVis is a community-powered website, we make no guarantee, either express or implied, of the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this guide.